Man’s general indifference to one another is the root cause to inherent selfishness. The natural tendency of mankind is to be selfish. Humans become extremely selfish, and only care for their own happiness and security. They begin to ignore the basic rights of others. They become very inconsiderate of their peers, try to make their own life happy and comfortable. To do this, hardship and inconvenience are brought to others. In the twentieth century, England was extremely somber and dark. Selfishness became more of a common trend. Inherent selfishness can be shown throughout Heart of Darkness, “The Soldier”, and “The Hollow Men”.
Selfishness is deeply embodied in “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke. This poem is about a soldier who was determined that when he died, the location he died would forever be a piece of England(Brooke). The narrator only considers what will happen if he dies. He fails to mention the hundreds who are standing beside him willing to fight for England as well. He “contained no reference to any…show more content… He is offered a job working on a ship to bring back a man named Kurtz who he hears so much about on the boat. Marlow is constantly put in situations he is not familiar with and is even put in grave danger. As several characters around him end up dying on the voyage, he begins to dehumanize the people around him. He even complained that his “shoes were full; a pool of blood lay very still, gleaming dark-red under the wheel” (Conrad, 45). He is dehumanizing the death of a human being and complaining about the blood on his shoes. Kurtz is no stranger to selfishness either. He is known to everyone as the man that brings in the absolute most ivory, and he knew this(48). Kurtz is also in very poor health, and for him to stay in the Congo where he can't get proper medical care slowly kills him. He stays simply for the recognition as the best (Conrad,
